Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-11-26
TRYING THE NERVES.

An Entomelogist's Feelings While . Ia.
rantula Was Crawling Over His Face.
Out on Dearborn avenue, near Lincoln
park. lives a man whose hobby is bugs
not live bu Is with vicious teeth and yiru-
lent fangs, but bugs impaled upon pieces
of cardboard and kept in glass cases.
Herbert Edgerton, the possessor of the
collection, was at home when the re-
porter called upon him the other day.
He conducted the visitor to cozy little
den in the rear of the house. which was
fitted up with "A number of cabinets, the
doors of which were appropriately let
tered. i've lots of specimens. said he,
'but here is one that value above all
others, though it is not at all rare" Mr..
Edgerton took piece of cardboard from
the cabinet and placed it upon the table.
Pinned 10 it was large hairy spider
which was easily recognized as taran-
tula. IL was at Camp Grant. A. T.,
three summers ago." continued the
speaker. visiting a cousin Of mine who
Is in the army. One day, while we were
out shooting, I lay down in the sand to
get a few moments rest. We had rid
den a good many miles that day, and rs
was ahead Of the rest of the party l
thought l would wait for them to come
up. So ! tethered my horse and was
soon stretched at full length upon the
sand. i fell into a sort of a doze and
was awakened by a horrible feeling on
my face. You know a mans mind acts
quickly under such circumstances, and
II didn't take me an instant to realize
that tarantula was crawling over nv
face. If he stung me l knew I was a
dead man, but if he simply crawled over
my face and away into the sand would
suffer no i'll results. My only recourse
was TO keep perfectly quiet and trust to
luck. for as soon as l moved the chances
were that the poison would penetrate
the skin and be coursing through my
veins.
Il closed my eyes and stopped breath
ing. S" fearful was l that the tarantula
would bc disturbed. Each one of his feet
felt like red hot iron. and seemed to be
burning deep hole in my cheek. The
tarantula didn't seem to be in the least
hurry. as he remained nearly minute
upon my face, and was on the point OF
him off with nv hand and tax
ing chances of being bitten, when hs
crawled off. l lay perfectly still for a
moment. and when got to my feet was
trembling so violently that l couldn't un-
tether the horse. A big draught from a
flask of brandy soon pulled me together. !!
and determined to get that tarantula !
for my collection. fastened small two |
tined fork to ramrod which used for |
that purpose. and started after the bug.
impaled him without any trouble, and |
he now has the place of honor in my col |
lection. wouldn't pass another minute |
like that. though, for all the collections in |
the world.
Here, continued Mr.. Edgerton, point
ng to an insect nearly four inches in
er.gth. lis a rare specimen. 1t is an
elephant beetle-the largest of the Scara-
heus family. South Africa is the only
place where it is found. and there are but
lew specimens in this country. This was
'ent to ME by friend of mine who is a |
great Traveller and who has been in every |
country in the world. Cen
lpedes are common enough. but this one
iere. taking a cardboard from one of
he cabinets. Twas murderer. Several
Iears ago passed several days in hotel
N albuquerque. N. NJ. Though it wse
nothing but 'dobe building. there were
! number of prominent people there,
mong them being family Of rich Mex
cans by the name of Alvuarez. One Of
he daughters of Alvuarez-a beautiful
,irl about 1S-awakened the nurse one
light with loud scream. How it hap
'ened no one knows, but in some way a
entipede had found its way into her bed
nd stung her. All the known restora-
ives were applied, but the poor girl did
ot recover. The centipede was found
nd killed, and begged it for my collec-
ION. As you can see, it is not a very
ood specimen. as it is badly mangled;
ut l prize it for its history. I've great
many more specimens, concluded Mr..
.dgerton, but these are the only ones
;hich have any particular story connect
d with them."